Persistent drought and repeated freeze events have forced the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to cancel or modify several stops on its annual Wheat Variety Tour schedule, reflecting what researchers describe as one of the toughest wheat seasons in recent memory.
Several wheat variety trial locations across western Nebraska have suffered significant damage this spring, leading to canceled field days, terminated research plots and revised tour plans.
“This is absolutely a new one for us,” said Dr. Katherine Frels, UNL wheat breeder and assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. “I think I can safely say, even for my predecessor, Dr. Baenziger, who was the breeder here for over 30 years, that he also hasn’t seen quite this level of extreme drought over such a large part of the state.”
The Deuel and Banner County field days have been canceled, while the Box Butte County tour will only feature the irrigated variety trial after the dryland plot experienced freeze damage and drought stress. The event originally scheduled at the High Plains Ag Lab near Sidney has been moved indoors to Western Nebraska Community College after wheat at the research facility was terminated because of poor growing conditions.
Frels said some variety trial sites remain standing but no longer offer meaningful opportunities for evaluation.
“While some of those trial sites are still standing, they’re really not worth spending a lot of time looking at,” she said.
Despite the setbacks, UNL researchers will still attend the remaining tour stops to discuss wheat diseases, seed quality, variety selection, fertility management and future breeding efforts.
Frels said this year’s conditions may also provide valuable information for wheat breeders searching for genetics that can better withstand stress.
“We will be using data from this year to see if there are any of our wheat genotypes that just performed a little bit better or hung on longer,” she said. “Those are the lines that are going to do way better in a much more normal drought.”
Updated Wheat Variety Tour Schedule (2026)
- June 10 – Jefferson County, Knobel Seeds (5 p.m. CT)
- June 15 – Hitchcock/Red Willow County, Peters Seed Farms (5 p.m. CT)
- June 16 – Perkins County, Stumpf International Wheat Research Center (9 a.m. MT)
- June 17 – Cheyenne County, WNCC Sidney (indoor, lunch provided, 9 a.m. MT)
- June 17 – Box Butte County (irrigated), Cullan Farm Seed (5 p.m. MT)